The agenda for the January 22, 2014 general meeting of the Green Party of Philadelphia follows. Amendments may be suggested by Tuesday, January 21, 2014. This is an extremely tight agenda.
7:00 Introductions
7:05 Report on meeting with urban Green leaders. Chair.
7:10 Report on progress in developing a position re: sale of PGW.
7:15 Report on ballot access campaign. Chair.
7:20 Candidate for 190th in West Philadelphia.
7:25 2nd vote on amendment to bylaws changing vote threshold on non-bylaws amendment questions to a simple majority from 2/3.
7:30 Bylaws amendments introduced. 1. Providing for two year alternating terms for officers, and 2. eliminating two of the three At large seats and adjusting quorums appropriately. Discussion.
7:50 Resolution on control of electronic systems by elected officers and/or contract employees.
8:00 Proposal for secure email lists.
8:10 Discussion of officer functions and request for nominations for officers. Election February 26,2014.
8:20 Campaign meeting, Cavanaugh’s (or other agreed location). Candidate to make their speeches, etc. Feb?
8:25 Announcements
8:30 Adjourn

Posted in Newswith Comments Off on Agenda for General Meeting Jan. 22, 2014

The campaign for Senate Bill 195 which would change the basis for candidate admission to the election process from signatures to registered voters began in earnest Monday night in Philadelphia. V.P. candidate Cheri Honkala led a contingent of voters to the Democratic candidates for governor forum to ask how they stood on ballot access. She and her colleagues were unceremoniously hustled out of the hall when they dared to interrupt the selling out of Pennsylvanians.

It is time for Greens and those who believe in democracy to join the fight for ballot access. The next event on the candidates cavalcade is Lehigh University, January 22, 2014. Of course that is the evening of our January meeting, so call your friends in Bethlehem to help out. Have them make posters saying, ” Fair Ballot Access Support S.B. 195″ and take them and a roll of duct tape to the event. Use the tape to cover mouths when you learn questions won’t be allowed from the floor. Here is a sampling of possible questions:

1. Why does your party continue to support a system where you and the Republican candidates have to get 2,000 signatures on your nominating petitions, yet third party and independent candidates have to get as many as 65,000? How fair is that?

2. Why does your party support a system that costs thousands of dollars in filing costs? For instance, if a third party or independent candidate is to survive the usual challenge to their petitions they have to get thousands of extra signatures and each page of petitions has to be notarized at $5.00 per page. In 2006 when Carl Romanelli submitted over 3,700 pages of petitions, the cost was $18,500.

3. Why does your party continue to support a system which applies technical rules to the signatures of registered voters?

4. Why does your party support a system to keep track of voter records (the S.U.R.E, or Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors ) which is full of errors which penalizes voter and signer? The records are entered with unspecified methodologies which cannot be verified, like putting spaces between letters of a name, or omitting the facsimile of the voter’s signature?

5. The usual argument for the unfair system of ballot access for third parties and independents is to keep down ballot clutter which might confuse voters. When are (6) of you going to leave this race so that only two remain, so as not to confuse voters?

6. When one of you is nominated in May you will stop talking about the environment, oil trains, fracking. Is there any chance you will support a change in the ballot access law from massive numbers of signatures and disreputable challenges to voter registrations which will allow some few third party and independent candidates to run and raise some of these issues themselves?

Posted in Newswith Comments Off on Ballot Access or get a Green candidate on the PA ballot